Container-handling apparatus

ABSTRACT

Indexing mechanism for multiple-station, glassware inspection machines in which two or more pocketed star wheels are used. The mounting of the plural star wheels, which are selected as to size of pockets depending on the height and width of the ware being inspected, is simplified by the use of a universal hub to which the lower star wheel is fixed. Additional star wheels are mounted on the hub at adjustable heights by the use of split, clamping rings that are keyed to the hub to maintain vertical orientation of the pockets of all star wheels.

United States Patent Thomas B. Sorbie Toledo, Ohio 7,136

Jan. 30, 1970 Aug. 17, 1971 Owens-Illinob, Inc.

[72] Inventor [21 Appl. No. [22] Filed [45] Patented [73] Assignee [54]CONTAINER-HANDLING APPARATUS 10 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 198/209, 141/152 [51] int. Cl 865g 29/00 [50] FieldofSearch141/152,

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,512,199 6/1950 Dawson,Jr. 141/152 X Primary Examiner-Even C. Blunk Assistant Examiner-H. 8.Lane AttorneysD. T. Innis and E. J. Holler ABSTRACT: Indexing mechanismfor multiple-station. glassware inspection machines in which two or morepocketed star wheels are used. The mounting ofthe plural star wheels,which are selected as to size of pockets depending on the height andwidth of the ware being inspected, is simplified by the use of auniversal hub to which the lower star wheel is fixed. Additional starwheels are mounted on the hub at adjustable heights by the use of split,clamping rings that are keyed to the hub to maintain verticalorientation of the pockets of all star wheels.

' CONTAINER-HANDLING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It has beenthe practice in the past when necessary to adapt a gauging andinspection machine to inspect tall ware such as olive jars or beveragebottles, to add additional star wheels to provide the necessarystability during indexing of the ware between inspection stations orpositions. This addition was accomplished by using spacer rings or-postswhich had to be selected from. a necessary inventory of a large number,and then assembled before being mounted on the drive shaft of themachine. Orientation of the plural star wheels had to be maintainedduring assembly and mounting, thus requiring substantial time andattention to detail resulting in-periods of downtimeT during changeover.Ifinitial selection were not properly made, thenthe, process had toberepeated withthe result that a substantial quantity of ware would haveto be accumulated, usually by hand, and inspected later, thus disrupting the orderly flow of ware from the'forming machines to the warehouse.Due to the factthat glasswareof many differing sizes, both as to heightand diameter, is produced and inspected, a substantial inventory ofspacers or posts was necessaryfor'each machine.

' The present invention overcomes many of thedifficulties attendant tosetting up the inspection machine for handling various-size ware by theuse of a single hub and star wheel mounting arrangement in which fewerparts are needed and changeoversmay be-made in a relatively short time.

SUMMARY OF THE'INVENTION BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is atop plan view of the star wheel mounting apparatus of the invention withthe top star wheel brokenaway;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical, partsectional, and part elevational view of thehuband star wheel mounting of the invention;

' FIG.4 is a detailed side view,-on:an enlarged scale,- taken atline.:4.-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken at line5-5 of. FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is .a sideelevational view, similar to FIG. 2, illustrating themodification of the invention to adapt it to handle tall containers.

With particular reference to FIGS. 13, the following detaileddescription of the apparatus of theinvention is made.

' Indexing drive mechanism'(not shown) is connected to the central shaft10, it being understood that the drive mechanism for the shaft 10 isessentially the sameas that disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,3l3,409 issuedApr. ll, I967.

Essentially. the drive consists-of an indexing type rotation of theshaft .10, The shaft 10, at its upper end, carries a mounting plate 11.The plate 11 is provided with 'four mounting holes through whichthreaded bolts 12 extend and engage with threaded bushing 13 carried byan inwardly extending, annular flange 14 of a generally cylindricalmounting hub 15.

The hub 15 has an outwardly extending flange 16 adjacent its lower endto which a lower, pocketed star wheel 17 is attached by means ofthreaded bolts 18. The star wheel 17 (as best shown in FIG. 2), whenattached to the hub 15, lies in a horizontal plane, above abottle-supporting conveyor 19 which is moving in the direction of thearrow shown thereon in FIG. I. Itcan readily be seen thatthe conveyor 19moves the -As is the case in the bottle inspection apparatus, thebottles or containers are indexedby' movement of the star wheel in acounterclockwise direction, as viewed from above, in succession to thefour positions at the left side ofFIG. 1, wherein the bottlesmay beinspected for various defects, similar to those being inspected in theabove-referred-to U. S. Pat. No. 3,3l3,409. The bottles are'supportedduring the index movement from inspection station to inspection stationby a table having an; upper surface essentially at thesame height as theheight of the conveyor 19. Bottles are held within the pockets duringthe indexing movement by a sem'icircumferential guide rail 22.

As can best be seen when viewing FIG. 2, the lower star wheel 17 engagesthe bottles at a point below the center of mass of the bottle orcontainer. Dependingupon the size of the containers being inspected, andin particular the height of the-containers, one or more additional starwheels are necessary to properly steady the bottles during theirindexing movement from station to station and when being rotated 'instation -for inspection purposes. With this in mind, the hub 15 serves"the proper alignment and orientation of all additional star wheelswhich are to be mounted on'the hub. The additional star wheels aremounted to the hub 23 by means of asplit ring 24, having its splitopening 25 located'diametrically opposite from a key 26 which is adaptedto ride inthe keyway 23. The key 26, as specifically'shown in FIG. 5,-ismounted to the ring 24 by a vertical retaining pin 27.

Aswill readily be appreciated, the split 'ring' 24, prior to mounting,has an internal diameter slightly larger than the external diameter ofthe hub 15 so that the ring may be easily telescoped over the hub 15.Clamping of the ring 24 to the hub is accomplished by turningatensioning screw 29. As clearly shown in FIG. 4, the tensioning screw2'9'has a threaded end 30 which is threaded into one end of the ring 24with its head '31 being seated against the vertical face 32 of a cutoutportion 33 of the ring 24. Turning of the head 31 of the screw 29, movesthe ends of the ring together to tend to close the split opening 25 andeffectively, circumferentially clamp the ring 24 to the hub 15.

A screw 28, with its head extending outwardly into the path of the head31 of the screw 29, provides an arrangement whereby the turning of thescrew 29 to loosen the ring 24 on the hub 15, to make adjustments, willcome into contact with the head of the screw 28 and provide a slightamount of opening force with respect to the ring 24 so that the'ring, ifit is still relatively tight with respect to the hub 15, 'will slightlyopen up the opening 25 to permit easy moving of the ring 24 relative tothe hub.

The ring-24 is provided with four precisely located threaded openings 34within which bolts 35 are threaded with a second star wheel 36 clampedbetween the boltheadand the ring 24. It can readily be seen that uponloosening of the screw 29 and setscrew 28, the ring 24 may be raised orlowered relative to the hub to accommodate the apparatus to the handlingof bottles of varying or differing heights. Furthermore, replacement ofthe star wheels may beeasily accomplished merely by removing the bolts35 and 18 and substituting star wheels having pockets of differentdimensions so as to accommodate ware of differing diameters.

As particularly illustrated in FIG. 6, a third starv wheel 37 may bemounted to the hub by means of a split ring 38 in a substantiallyidentical manner as disclosed with respect to the mounting of star wheel36. Thus it can readily be seen that an easy, economical and quickchange arrangement is provided for adjusting the heights of the starwheels relative to each other so as to provide apparatus best able tohandle ware through the inspection stations of the inspection machine.Furthermore, when it is necessary to adapt the inspection machine forthe inspecting of ware of a totally different diameter, the presentarrangement now permits easy removal and replacement of star wheelswithout the use of spacers as specifically shown in FIG. 2 of theabove-referred-to U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,409.

By reason of the fact that the key 26 which is carried by the ring ispositioned at the diametrically opposed, point of the ring 24 relativeto the opening 25, clamping of the ring to the hub will in no way changethe vertical orientation of the pockets of the added star wheels withrespect to the lower star wheel which is fixed to the flange on the hub15. The location of the mounting holes in all star wheels is the same sothat when they are fixed to the rings 24 and 38 or to the flange 16,they are always in the same .relative orientation with respect to eachother. No problem with respectto vertical alignment is encountered.

Iclaim:

l. Indexing apparatus for moving glass containers in series through aplurality of inspection positions arranged in a semicircle, comprising acylindrical hub positioned with its axis vertical, drive means connectedto the interior of said hub for rotating said hub about its axis, anannular ledge extending outwardly from the lower edge of said hub, afirst, pocketed star wheel mounted on said annular ledge inpredetermined, circumferential orientation, split ring meanstelescopically received on said hub, means carried by said ring forcircumferentially clamping said ring to said hub, alignment meansinlerconnecting said ring and hub, a second pocketed star wheel, meansmounting said second star wheel on said ring, the mounting of the starwheels to the hub being such that the pockets are maintained in precise.vertical alignment.

2. The apparatus of claim l, wherein said alignment means comprises avertical keyway formed in the exterior of said hub and key means mountedon said ring means and engageable in said keyway on said hub.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a third star wheel,second split ring means telescopically received on said hub and meansmounting said third star wheel on said ring.

4.'The apparatus of claim 3, including alignment means interconnectingsaid second ring and said hub.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said alignment means comprises avertical keyway fon-ned in the exterior of said hub and key meansmounted on said ring means and engageable in said keyway on said hub.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said key means is locateddiametrically opposite from the split in said ring.

7. Bottle engaging and indexing apparatus comprising, a vertical,cylindrical hub, means connected to said hub for rotating said hub aboutits vertical axis, an annular flange extending outwardly adjacent thelower end of said hub, a first horizontal star wheel mounted on saidflange, a radially split, annular ring having an inside diameter greaterthan the outside diameter of said hub, adjustable means extendingbetween the split ends of said ring for adjusting the gap in said ring,an inwardly extending key mounted on said ring diametrically oppositethe gap therein, a vertical keyway formed in said hub within which saidkey is adapted to ride, a second horizontal star wheel, means mountingsaid star wheel on said ring, and setscrew means carried by said ringand engageable with said hub for retaining said ring at adjusted heightprior to final circumferential engagement of said ring to said hub byoperation of said adjustable means extending between the ends of saidsplit ring.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further including a third star whee],second split ring means telescopically received on said hub and meansmounting said third star wheel on said ring.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, including alignment means intcrconnectingsaid second rin and said hub.

10. The apparatus of claim I, wherein said alignment means comprises avertical keyway formed in the exterior of said hub and key means mountedon said ring means and cngageable in Said keyway on said hub.

1. Indexing apparatus for moving glass containers in series through aplurality of inspection positions arranged in a semicircle, comprising acylindrical hub positioned with its axis vertical, drive means connectedto the interior of said hub for rotating said hub about its axis, anannular ledge extending outwardly from the lower edge of said hub, afirst, pocketed star wheel mounted on said annular ledge inpredetermined, circumferential orientation, split ring meanstelescopically received on said hub, means carried by said ring forcircumferentially clamping said ring to said hub, alignment meansinterconnecting said ring and hub, a second pocketed star wheel, meansmounting said second star wheel on said ring, the mounting of the starwheels to the hub being such that the pockets are maintained in precise,vertical alignment.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said alignmentmeans comprises a vertical keyway formed in the exterior of said hub andkey means mounted on said ring means and engageable in said keyway onsaid hub.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a third starwheel, second split ring means telescopically received on said hub andmeans mounting said third star wheel on said ring.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 3, including alignment means interconnecting said second ring andsaid hub.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said alignment meanscomprises a vertical keyway formed in the exterior of said hub and keymeans mounted on said ring means and engageable in said keyway on saidhub.
 6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said key means is locateddiametrically opposite from the split in said ring.
 7. Bottle engagingand indexing apparatus comprisiNg, a vertical, cylindrical hub, meansconnected to said hub for rotating said hub about its vertical axis, anannular flange extending outwardly adjacent the lower end of said hub, afirst horizontal star wheel mounted on said flange, a radially split,annular ring having an inside diameter greater than the outside diameterof said hub, adjustable means extending between the split ends of saidring for adjusting the gap in said ring, an inwardly extending keymounted on said ring diametrically opposite the gap therein, a verticalkeyway formed in said hub within which said key is adapted to ride, asecond horizontal star wheel, means mounting said star wheel on saidring, and setscrew means carried by said ring and engageable with saidhub for retaining said ring at adjusted height prior to finalcircumferential engagement of said ring to said hub by operation of saidadjustable means extending between the ends of said split ring.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 7, further including a third star wheel, second splitring means telescopically received on said hub and means mounting saidthird star wheel on said ring.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, includingalignment means interconnecting said second ring and said hub.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein said alignment means comprises a verticalkeyway formed in the exterior of said hub and key means mounted on saidring means and engageable in said keyway on said hub.